Gettysburg: 'A new birth of freedom'

Historian draws line from Gettysburg to civil rights to gay struggle today.

By BRAD RHEN

Posted:
06/30/2013 10:52:51 PM EDT

An Army bugler plays taps in front of a silhouetted cavalry soldier during the official National Park Service commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg on Sunday, June 30 in Gettysburg. (THE EVENING SUN -- JEFF LAUTENBERGER)

Because of its position just behind the Union lines on the back slope of Cemetery Ridge, the Leister farm was an ideal location for Gen. George G. Meade's headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg.

It was so close the battle, in fact, that during a Confederate artillery barrage, Meade and his generals had to retreat from the farmhouse to the barn.

The site, now part of Gettysburg National Military Park, was once again the center of attention Sunday night when the National Park Service held a commemorative ceremony to mark the battle's 150th anniversary. But, instead of thunderous artillery and volleys of musket fire, those in attendance were treated to the sounds of patriotic tunes from the U.S. Army Band.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" was the basis for the recent film "Lincoln," was the keynote speaker.

"No event and no president holds greater meaning for our country than the Battle of Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln," Goodwin said. "If Lee achieved victory at Gettysburg, he could move on to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. His aura of invincibility might, it was feared, eventually lead British and French to recognize the independence of the Confederacy and bring the war to an end."

But, three days after the battle began, Goodwin noted, Meade sent Lincoln a telegram informing the president that the Confederate army had been repulsed.

"Four months later, in this hallowed place, Lincoln translated the meaning of the battle, the sacrifice of the soldiers, and the story of our country into words that would be recited and memorized for generations," she said, referring to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in November 1863.

Kearns, who has also written books about presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is seen on video screens in front of a large crowd Sunday, June 30, while giving the keynote speech during the official National Park Service 150th anniversary event in Gettysburg. (THE EVENING SUN -- JEFF LAUTENBERGER)

Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, focused much of her 18-minute speech on the battles for equal rights that followed in the decades after the Civil War. She drew a straight line from the war to the women's suffrage and civil-rights movements, as well as the movement for gay equality today.

It is in these struggles that Goodwin sees the fulfillment of Lincoln's call for "a new birth of freedom" at Gettysburg.

Jon Jarvis, the director of the National Park Service, and former television journalist Charles Gibson also spoke at the ceremony. Jarvis noted that 150 years ago to the night, as darkness settled over Gettysburg and its surrounding fields, the town was a mere hours away from immortality.

"The next day, two armies would meet here in one of the greatest armed conflicts the North American continent has ever seen," he said. "Over the next 72 hours, the ridges and fields around us would be the scene of terrible destruction and carnage - some of the most desperate fighting of the civil war."

The event included a live theatrical program during which actors read real-life accounts of soldiers, leaders and civilians who experienced the battle.

The ceremony concluded with a 21-gun salute by artillery pieces from the Army's 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard." The cannons, though loud and booming, would have hardly compared to the sounds of battle 150 years ago.

(THE EVENING SUN -- JEFF LAUTENBERGER)

Following the ceremony, audience members were led by active-duty Old Guard soldiers on a candlelight procession from the battlefield to the nearby Soldiers' National Cemetery. At the cemetery, which is the final resting place to more than 3,500 soldiers who were killed at Gettysburg, thousands of graves were lit by luminaries.

"As we gather together to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, we can look upon these graves knowing that each of these soldiers who rest here set forth their own ripples of hope, and that those ripples built a mighty current that swept the scourge of slavery from our land, giving our beloved country, as Abraham Lincoln so magnificently promised, a new birth of freedom," Goodwin said.